Mal Meninga's eye-opening call on Kalyn Ponga's Kangaroos future as Ben Hunt cops selection snub

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga insists he hasn't put a line through Kalyn Ponga's name altogether despite snubbing the Knights star following an intense saga surrounding his representative availability. The Kangaroos coach named a massively overhauled Australian squad for the Pacific Championships, with Ponga a glaring omission.

The decision came after Ponga initially declared himself unavailable for Kangaroos selection only to backflip on his decision after the NRL threatened sanctions. Ponga announced after speaking to Meninga that he had changed his mind and was keen to pull on the green and gold. This led many to believe that Meninga wanted to select him, only for the Australian coach to leave him out of the 21-man squad altogether.

Shedding light on the situation on Tuesday, Meninga said the decision to not select Ponga was because he simply wasn't the best fullback available and it had nothing to do with him initially announcing he would forego playing for his country to focus on the Knights' pre-season. "That's not true," Meninga said.

"We had a really good conversation, I was really happy. We chose the team on merit. We sat around the selection table, six of us, and we considered Kalyn a specialist fullback. He has played 14 (for Queensland), we know that. But we feel that Dylan Edwards is the best No.1 in the game at the moment."

Ponga was not the only fullback snubbed, with James Tedesco and Reece Walsh missing out as well. It likely means Edwards will start each match of the Pacific Championships at fullback. However, Meninga could also shift Tom Trbojevic and Hamiso Tabuia-Fidow to the back if required.

Mal Meninga leaves out Ben Hunt from team to face Tonga

Dragons halfback Ben Hunt has been left out of Meninga's 17 to take on Tonga on Friday. Keen to cover Trbojevic - who continues to battle a troublesome shoulder - the Kangaroos coach has opted to go with Canterbury utility Matt Burton on his bench at the expense of Hunt in somewhat of a selection shock.

Australia play Mate Ma'a in their Pacific Championships opener at Suncorp Stadium on Friday, their first meeting since Tonga's historic 2019 Auckland upset. And Meninga will blood six debutants for the game, including halves Tom Dearden and Mitch Moses, while Canterbury playmaker Burton will wear the No.14.

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It means Hunt, who has carved out a role in a one-two punch with hooker Harry Grant for Queensland and Australia in recent years, has been left out entirely. And Meninga says while it was a difficult choice he felt it was the right one given Trbojevic's injury situation. "It was difficult, no doubt but Tommy (Trbojevic) hasn't played for a bit, in the centres either, it was a bit precautionary around his shoulder," Meninga said of his call to snub Hunt.

"He's (Trbojevic) having no problems at the moment, but we're making sure that if anyone goes down ... we've got so much versatility in the squad (but) felt we needed outside back coverage."

with AAP